06 May 2014

Tracking the ancient obsidian trade on Manus Island

THE discovery of an obsidian source on Manus Island has revealed ancient trading patterns in Papua New Guinea.

Obsidian was widely traded on Manus where it was commonly used for tools such as knives and spears.

Our recent discovery of a geological outcrop at Lepong, not known to have been exploited in recent times, has raised important questions about the history of ancient trade.

Chemical analyses using three techniques showed that artefacts from south-west Manus, assumed to be very old due to the high degree of weathering, may be derived from the new source. These results highlight how much there is still to learn about the history of ancient trade in this region.

Often you just can’t predict how significant a new discovery is going to be, especially when the research involves multiple analytical techniques conducted by scientists working independently at different research institutions.

The results of our studies on obsidian from a new source of obsidian in PNG came as a pleasant surprise. Glenn Summerhayes (pictured with members of his team), Professor of Archaeology at Otago University and a Research Associate at the Australian Museum Research Institute, has inspired many people in PNG with his enthusiasm and dedication in pursuing archaeological fieldwork in the region.

The late Father Paul Mohe, who was the head of the Catholic Church in Manus, was fascinated by Glenn’s stories about the ancient past.

So when Father Mohe heard from one of his parishioners about a place called Lepong where road building had uncovered a place with shiny black rocks, he contacted Glenn and helped organise a boat trip to check out whether this was a previously unknown geological source of obsidian, the glassy stone used widely on the island in ancient times for stone knives, daggers, and spears.

Having finally arrived at the isolated location, they were amazed to find abundant quantities of large boulders of obsidian suitable for making ancient tools.

Surprisingly, the local people had no knowledge of their ancestors using and trading this potential rich resource. It was always thought by Manus residents and archaeologists alike that all the obsidian widely used for tools in this region had been traded from the quarries on the small island of Lou located to the south of the mainland.

Had the people living near Lepong really ignored this seemingly rich resource? And if so, why?

To answer these questions, a team of experts was brought in to use techniques that could compare the chemical composition of the new obsidian from Lepong with ancient artefacts from archaeological sites in other areas of Manus.

Robin Torrence of the Australian Museum Research Institute ran samples at the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation and Glenn Summerhayes collaborated with Charlotte Allen at the Australian National University using an electron scanning microscope.

When all the results were brought together, they demonstrated that, although the Lou obsidian sources were used most often, a group of tools from an isolated and poorly known set of sites in south-west Manus might be derived from the Lepong outcrops.

Given these tools are highly weathered and resemble the forms of artefacts dating to the Pleistocene from the neighbouring island of New Britain, they suggest a very ancient trading route that did not continue into historic times.

The discovery of the Lepong obsidian source has clearly revealed how little we know about the history of trading systems in this region. Much more geochemical analysis involving larger samples of artefacts is required.

But, thanks to the enthusiasm of Father Mohe and the productive collaboration of archaeological scientists in Australia and New Zealand, the rich and complex history of Papua New Guinea is now beginning to come to light.

Dr Robin Torrence is Senior Principal Research Scientist at the Australian Museum in Sydney

Comments

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It is timely that the light should shine on the work of Prof Summerhayes. Today he is scheduled to visit the Governor General to receive the award of Officer of the Order of the Logohu. The citation acknowledges his sustained ''service to the community through his significant contribution to the archaeology of Papua New Guinea''.

Indeed it has been a 'red-letter year' for PNG archaeology. Earlier in the year UPNG awarded Honours degrees in Archaeology to Mr Jason Kariwiga and Mr Edson Willie. The former is the first to be awarded to a PNG national since Mr Vincent Kewibu received his from Latrobe University in 1998 and the first awarded in Archaeology from UPNG since Mr Nick Araho in the early 1990s. Congratulations to all involved.